Zerah Colburn'S family

(Portrait of math savant Zerah Colburn's namesake nephew)

Abia Colburn was Zerah's father. Abia's father was David Colburn, born in 1729. Abia had two brothers and two sisters: Asa, David, Maria and Elizabeth.

Abia (1763 - 1824) and Elizabeth (Betsey) Hill (1769 - 1860) married on September 3, 1796. Their children were Green (2/10/1797 - 12/26/1871), Elizabeth (1798 - 1863), Zebina, (b. 1800), twins David and Jonathon (1802), Zerah (1804 - 1839), Mary, who died in Cabot at age three, and Enos Cabot (1808 - 1848). Jonathon, David's twin, died in September, 1811, before Abia and Zerah went to England, in April, 1812.

Green had twins, Charles and Curtis, born in1829, and a daughter, Rozella (1836 - 1849). Curtis had two children, Green born in 1860, and Len Sylvanus, born in 1865.

Abia and Elizabeth's daughter, Elizabeth (11/23/1798 - 3/11/1863), married Benjamin Curtis, in 1845. Her brother, David, deeded a house to her, in 1838. She also bought one acre of land, from Jeremiah Atkins.

In 1834, the youngest brother, Enos, deeded a small parcel of land to Loomis Palmer, to build a dam on the brook. The deeds indicate that Mrs. Colburn sold all land she and Abia purchased or deeded it to their older children. She seemed a better manager than Abia, who left her with a $250 mortgage.

Elizabeth and her only surviving daughter, also Elizabeth, were both known in Cabot as "Betsey." In town records, on March, 1826, Mrs. Colburn bought five acres of land from Solomon Osgood for $30; she was named as "widow." (Abia died in England, in 1824.) In 1838, when daughter Betsey, at age 40, bought land from Jeremiah Atkins, that deed states "a single woman." On May 16, 1840, Widow Colburn sold 44 acres, in Lot 45, to William Haines, for $500. This was land she bought from John Hall, in December, 1828, plus five acres she bought from Solomon Osgood, reserving one acre and the house.

Zerah’s brother, Zebina, married Sarah Ayers of New Hampshire, and moved to Saratoga, New York. Their only son, born in 1832, was named Zerah, for his uncle. Like his uncle, he had little formal schooling, but became a respected journalist and engineer. He wrote about train engines, designed them, edited and published trade papers for the fledgling train industry. He married Adelaide Driggs; they had one daughter, Sarah Pearl. He became estranged from his family and moved to England.

Although respected, Zerah Colburn was not financially successful. He met a tragic end. In 1858, Elizabeth Susanna Browning answered an advertisement by "Zeta"' in the London Times. She became Colburn's housekeeper. They sailed New York, and married. A stormy married life followed. In Philadelphia, Zerah started a weekly newspaper that failed, in the 1860 financial crash.

The couple returned to London, where, "Lizzy" found out that Zerah was a bigamist. He became a drug addict. They separated.

In 1869, Zerah returned to the U. S. On April 26, 1870, he shot himself, and died, in an orchard, in Belmont, Massachusetts.

John Mortimer wrote Zerah Colburn, The Spirit of Darkness, Arima publishing, 2005, Suffolk, UK.

1881 biography 1912 biography